Revenge is A Dish Best Served With a Stake
by MindlessProse
Summary: How much can a Rose give up living for herself, watching as those around her take it for granted? How much will they keep pushing before she breaks? So what, if she breaks? She's just another Guardian, right? Wrong. No more "They Come First". It's time for Rose to rise above people who've betrayed her and to move forward with her life, it's time to leave Court...
1. Prologue

_Revenge is A Dish Best Served With a Stake_

Prologue

_::ROSE POV::_

_You know how within one moment your life can go from that wonderful feeling where everything seems to going perfectly, to emptiness. You can find yourself broken in that same moment, shattered into fragments of a self you once knew by those you once deemed closest to you._

_I suppose that's the part that hurts the most. I loved them, so much. So very much. I sacrificed my whole life for these people and yet here I am, betrayed by the one person I'd sworn to protect, as a sister, a best friend and a Guardian, I had taken the oath and the Promise Mark, dedicating my entirety to protecting her. The other, well he guided me, mentored me, and promised to love me eternally…I guess eternity was a shorter time than I thought._

_I'm done; they've fucked with me for too long. I'm done with the constant pushing, the blind dedication, being constantly used and twisted to the will of others. It's my turn to be selfish, to make decisions for myself, to have my own life, live with myself as a priority for once. No more "They Come First"._

_It's time for me to leave Court._


	2. Chapter 1

Hey guys, thanks for the reviews, I'll try to stick to some sort of uploading schedule, sorry about any grammar mistakes, I hope you enjoy it :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy, sadly

Revenge is A Dish Best Served With a Stake

Chapter one

::ROSE POV::

'_Love fades, mine has' _four little words was all it took and I was livid. What did he mean? All the rage, the frustration, the pain, and worst of all the longing, all the emotions that had fuelled my ability to move forward in the darkness that hand built up in me over the time I'd spent hunting for him, searching for a way to save him without killing him, all in vain, finally succeeding in my quest only for him to say that a meant nothing to him anymore. It all built up and I just snapped.

"What do you mean faded?" I asked trying to control the emotions that all at once were threatening to burst out all at once. For once in my life I wanted more than ever for him to feel all the hurt and anger I was feeling, just so he could understand.

He answered me patronisingly; using a tone that one would use to talk to a child who didn't understand a very simple concept. " I have no more interest in you Roza. My duty is to protect Lissa, she saved me, and I owe her at least that."

I was no longer aware of the world around me, of what my body was doing, all I would feel as was rage. A throbbing pain in my hand made me almost aware of the world, as if looking through a veil. Dmitri's nose was bleeding, bent at an awkward angle, his godly face in a perfect mask of shock.

"Lissa? Oh, so she's not Princess Vasilisa anymore, she's Lissa now. I'm sure your precious princess must have had such a difficult time saving you, you know, what with her dropping out of school, riving up her future, travelling to Russia, having to watch the pain in Olena's eyes when she found out what had become of her son! Then Lissa must have worked hard to break a criminal out of jail trying to save you and then having to escape and kill the one man she'd loved even after he had captured her and used her as a bloodwhore! I mean it's not like even after that she had to suffer with the knowledge that she'd not only hesitated while battling him but missed his heart with the stake, two lessons that he'd put so much emphasis on in their time together. Who knows how many sleepless nights she must have had knowing that she would have to try again? No! All _she _had to do was charm a goddamn stake; Adrian could have done it for fuck's sake! She didn't have to go though all that shit to save you, I did!" My voice started to crack as tears threatened to fall; my voice now came out as a barely audible whisper. "I did all that and more just so you could stand here and tell me that, that you don't love me…"

I couldn't cry, not now. I needed to leave, he couldn't see me vulnerable, I wouldn't let him. I tried to open my mouth to speak but the lump in my throat felt real and like it was growing. The rage had faded and in its place was a horrible constricting pain. All the hurt, so much hurt.

"Leave Roza"

"It's Rose or in your case Guardian Hathaway, Guardian Belikov" I said coldly, my guardian mask slipping into place. Then I walked briskly out of the Church, trying to hold what was left of myself together.


	3. Chapter 2

Hey guys, thanks for all the new reviews, they really help with the motivation for writing, sorry that this one is so short, I promise that the next one will be longer, school has just been very busy, I'll try to upload the next chapter soon but until then, I hope you enjoy thing one :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy, very sad indeed :D

_Revenge is A Dish Best Served With a Stake_

Chapter two

::ROSE POV::

As I walked back from the church to my room it was raining heavily. Lightning flashed across the sky, revealing ominous hues of purple, followed by the violent rumble of thunder. Perfect. The weather, mirroring my emotions, brought a wave calm sweeping over my body, making me feel like a walking porcelain doll, devoid of all emotion, yet fragile.

As I sat on my bed towel drying my hair my thoughts drifted to my time in Russia. I wonder if it had worked out between Viktoria and –…my thoughts were interrupted by Lissa's, "_Rose! I told you to leave him alone; honestly you are such a selfish bitch! Cant you just let him move on, you know, maybe even do your job of being my Guardian properly for once instead of thinking always only thinking about yourself like you always do." _

What the actual fuck was she thinking? All I had done since kindergarten was protect her, couldn't she see how much this one thing meant to me? Ever since Dimitri had come back all that she had been doing was attaching herself to him, mothering him almost obsessively. Poor Christian was frequently being brushed off and from the time I'd seen been on duty guarding her royal highness, she'd changed.

Whereas once she had been my friendly, kind, best friend, she was now almost like a second Tatiana, rude and regal, 'above all others'. Her idea of fun these days was the lavish parties thrown by the various royal Moroi, mingling with people that had probably never seen a day of hard work in their lives. She'd also started trying to block me from accessing her mind through the bond. Not that she'd succeeded but I'd let her think she had for simplicity, you never know, it could be useful at some point. Besides, while she had been practicing spirit with Adrian, I'd been doing my own research on being Shadow Kissed and the effects it had as well as its advantages. She may be being a bad friend at the moment but I was determined to protect her to the best of my abilities. She was my charge and maybe I wasn't taking enough of the darkened away from her. I needed to try harder. Maybe that would bring my friend back.


	4. Chapter 3

Hey guys, I'm sorry that I've taken ages to update, I've had to move and start a new school and stuff, I have a few chapters written but finding time to type them has been a major problem. I'll try to get onto a regular updating schedule, I hope you guys like this chapter, thanks for waiting, I hope you enjoy it :)

_Revenge is A Dish Best Served With a Stake_

Chapter three

::ROSE POV::

I sighed for what seemed like the billionth time in the hour. What should I do? Could I really just give up on Dimitri and I after everything that had happened? I knew one thing for sure, I couldn't just lay here staring at the ceiling anymore, it was all so…so frustrating. That was the closest feeling I could think of to describe the pain and confusion, the agitation threatening to burst out of my every cell at any moment.

Jumping off the bed, I decided that that I couldn't just sit still. I was going mad. Rummaging though a pile of clothes on the floor, I found a pair of black three quarter length running leggings, a black sports bra and a baggy deep blue tank top. I threw the clothes on, tying my hair into a high ponytail and after finding my old pair of trainers, I spent about five minutes hunting down my iPod before heading for the gym.

* * *

The gym was empty save for a couple of recently promised Guardians. As I walked in they looked up, recognition in their eyes. They were probably at St. Vlads. around the same time, not that I cared as long as they stayed out of my way.

I spent what felt like five minutes on the treadmill, the time on the treadmill 's dashboard flashed 20:47, I'd come in at about 5:00pm which meant that in actuality I'd been on it for over three hours. I still felt so much frustration and rage so I let my fists get acquainted with the training dummies before moving onto the obstacle courses that were supposedly meant to improve Guardian skills on a range of terrains, but I strongly suspected that they were just one of the Queen's sadistic torture ideas to ensure that the majority of the Dhampir populous shuddered at their solo future career option.

By the time I was done, I was bloody knuckled, and bruises covered what I suspected to be almost every inch of my skin's surface area. On top of that I was exhausted, having to focus just to maintain my balance. As for the gym, well let's just say they'll have to be doing some serious equipment replacement. I couldn't help but smirk at the thought, too tired to even bother laughing at the Royal expense.

Sluggishly, I walked in the general direction of my room, slowly dragging my feet as I moved. At this rate I was probably going to get mistaken for a zombie. I wasn't really watching where I was going, my eyelids felt too heavy to bother keeping themselves open. They suddenly snapped open however, when I walked into a soft, warm fabric wall. I looked up to see the Moroi King of Annoyance himself, Christian Ozera.

"They obviously taught you how to watch where you were going in Novice training, Rosie dearest" he said, his tone mocking, but piercing blue eyes shone with concern and a restlessness akin to my earlier agitation.

I tried to think of a sharp retort but came up with nothing, my mind felt so groggy. I missed my bed so much. Ignoring Christian I drifted into a dream, thinking about how soft and fluffy the pillow would feel against my cheek and how the blanket – I was snapped out of my reverie by Christian, his concerned face just a few centimetres from mine.

"Yo Rosie…Rosie, Rose?" he said, waving his hand within my peripheral vision.

As he spoke I could feel his breath on my lips "Hey, are you alright?" his voice was low and husky with concern, "who was stupid enough to piss you off?" he said chuckling. My lips tingled in anticipation at the proximity.

I stood there, slightly intoxicated by him being so close. What was he talking about? Flexing my fingers to return the feeling to my body I winced, remembering the gym session I realised he was talking about my appearance.

"Would you like some first hand experience of what happened to them?" I said smirking

"Now there's the Rosie I know" we were very close now, too close, I could feel his heat radiating through the thin fabrics that separated our bodies.

"Shut it fire crotch" my face was burning red, I was sure of it.

He straightened up and took a step back, his expression serious again. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"I…I could take you to Lissa, you know, so she can heal you" he said hesitantly, looking away.

"She's been pretty weird lately, huh?" he looked back at me, surprised.

"You noticed too? I thought that I was being a clingy bastard and misreading the whole situation, though" his fists clenched "she has been has been spending a lot of time with that damn Belikov"

With those words my mind started the decent into the darkness, images and thoughts that brought with them jealousy and hatred for my best friend threatened to consume every inch of my being. I couldn't let it happen, I wouldn't let the darkness take over, not right now with Christian here.

"That did not just happen, we actually…" I burst out laughing, this new wave of strange positive emotions washing away the darkness.

Christian stood there looking at me bewilderedly "What?" "Are you definitely sure you are okay?" he asked slowly.

"Dude, we actually agreed on something for once" I said between laughs, making the phrase sound more fragmented and myself sound slightly demented.

He smirked "I guess we did. No one can ever know about this horrifying event" he faked a shudder before the serious expression returned, this time the ice blue that was his eyes filled with pain. "I can't help but wish that you'd disagreed with me, I want to be wrong this once more than ever" he sighed his fists clenched again as he glared at the floor.

He sighed one more time then looked up at me, meeting my eyes. Giving me a lazy smirk he offered me his hand.

"Come on Rosie, I've seen zombies look more alive than you do right now, I'll walk you to your room, I may even drop by later with some donuts, chocolate, that's if I'm feeling especially nice.'


End file.
